narrative essay about tsunamis

Search form

• Forecast & Warning

The Tsunami Story

Tsunami is a set of ocean waves caused by any large, abrupt disturbance of the sea-surface. If the disturbance is close to the coastline, local tsunamis can demolish coastal communities within minutes. A very large disturbance can cause local devastation AND export tsunami destruction thousands of miles away. The word tsunami is a Japanese word, represented by two characters: tsu, meaning, "harbor", and nami meaning, "wave". Tsunamis rank high on the scale of natural disasters. Since 1850 alone, tsunamis have been responsible for the loss of over 420,000 lives and billions of dollars of damage to coastal structures and habitats. Most of these casualties were caused by local tsunamis that occur about once per year somewhere in the world. For example, the December 26, 2004, tsunami killed about 130,000 people close to the earthquake and about 58,000 people on distant shores. Predicting when and where the next tsunami will strike is currently impossible. Once the tsunami is generated, forecasting tsunami arrival and impact is possible through modeling and measurement technologies.

Generation. Tsunamis are most commonly generated by earthquakes in marine and coastal regions. Major tsunamis are produced by large (greater than 7 on the Richer scale), shallow focus (< 30km depth in the earth) earthquakes associated with the movement of oceanic and continental plates. They frequently occur in the Pacific, where dense oceanic plates slide under the lighter continental plates. When these plates fracture they provide a vertical movement of the seafloor that allows a quick and efficient transfer of energy from the solid earth to the ocean (try the animation in Figure 1). When a powerful earthquake (magnitude 9.3) struck the coastal region of Indonesia in 2004, the movement of the seafloor produced a tsunami in excess of 30 meters (100 feet) along the adjacent coastline killing more than 240,000 people. From this source the tsunami radiated outward and within 2 hours had claimed 58,000 lives in Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India.

Underwater landslides associated with smaller earthquakes are also capable of generating destructive tsunamis. The tsunami that devastated the northwestern coast of Papua New Guinea on July 17, 1998, was generated by an earthquake that registered 7.0 on the Richter scale that apparently triggered a large underwater landslide. Three waves measuring more than 7 meter high struck a 10-kilometer stretch of coastline within ten minutes of the earthquake/slump. Three coastal villages were swept completely clean by the deadly attack leaving nothing but sand and 2,200 people dead. Other large-scale disturbances of the sea -surface that can generate tsunamis are explosive volcanoes and asteroid impacts. The eruption of the volcano Krakatoa in the East Indies on Aug. 27, 1883 produced a 30-meter tsunami that killed over 36,000 people. In 1997, scientists discovered evidence of a 4km diameter asteroid that landed offshore of Chile approximately 2 million years ago that produced a huge tsunami that swept over portions of South America and Antarctica.

Figure 1. Click to see and animation of a tsunami generated by an earthquake.

Wave Propagation. Because earth movements associated with large earthquakes are thousand of square kilometers in area, any vertical movement of the seafloor immediately changes the sea-surface. The resulting tsunami propagates as a set of waves whose energy is concentrated at wavelengths corresponding to the earth movements (~100 km), at wave heights determined by vertical displacement (~1m), and at wave directions determined by the adjacent coastline geometry. Because each earthquake is unique, every tsunami has unique wavelengths, wave heights, and directionality (Figure 2 shows the propagation of the December 24, 2004 Sumatra tsunami.) From a tsunami warning perspective, this makes the problem of forecasting tsunamis in real time daunting.

Warning Systems. Since 1946, the tsunami warning system has provided warnings of potential tsunami danger in the pacific basin by monitoring earthquake activity and the passage of tsunami waves at tide gauges. However, neither seismometers nor coastal tide gauges provide data that allow accurate prediction of the impact of a tsunami at a particular coastal location. Monitoring earthquakes gives a good estimate of the potential for tsunami generation, based on earthquake size and location, but gives no direct information about the tsunami itself. Tide gauges in harbors provide direct measurements of the tsunami, but the tsunami is significantly altered by local bathymetry and harbor shapes, which severely limits their use in forecasting tsunami impact at other locations. Partly because of these data limitations, 15 of 20 tsunami warnings issued since 1946 were considered false alarms because the tsunami that arrived was too weak to cause damage.

Figure 2. Click to see the propagation of the December 24, 2004 Sumatra tsunami.

Forecasting impacts. Recently developed real-time, deep ocean tsunami detectors (Figure 3) will provide the data necessary to make tsunami forecasts. The November 17, 2003, Rat Is. tsunami in Alaska provided the most comprehensive test for the forecast methodology. The Mw 7.8 earthquake on the shelf near Rat Islands, Alaska, generated a tsunami that was detected by three tsunameters located along the Aleutian Trench-the first tsunami detection by the newly developed real-time tsunameter system. These real-time data combined with the model database (Figure 4) were then used to produce the real-time model tsunami forecast. For the first time, tsunami model predictions were obtained during the tsunami propagation, before the waves had reached many coastlines. The initial offshore forecast was obtained immediately after preliminary earthquake parameters (location and magnitude Ms = 7.5) became available from the West Coast/Alaska TWC (about 15-20 minutes after the earthquake). The model estimates provided expected tsunami time series at tsunameter locations. When the closest tsunameter recorded the first tsunami wave, about 80 minutes after the tsunami, the model predictions were compared with the deep-ocean data and the updated forecast was adjusted immediately. These offshore model scenarios were then used as input for the high-resolution inundation model for Hilo Bay. The model computed tsunami dynamics on several nested grids, with the highest spatial resolution of 30 meters inside the Hilo Bay (Figure 5). None of the tsunamis produced inundation at Hilo, but all of them recorded nearly half a meter (peak-to-trough) signal at Hilo gage. Model forecast predictions for this tide gage are compared with observed data in Figure 5. The comparison demonstrates that amplitudes, arrival time and periods of several first waves of the tsunami wave train were correctly forecasted. More tests are required to ensure that the inundation forecast will work for every likely-to-occur tsunami. When implemented, such forecast will be obtained even faster and would provide enough lead time for potential evacuation or warning cancellation for Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast.

Reduction of impact. The recent development of real-time deep ocean tsunami detectors and tsunami inundation models has given coastal communities the tools they need to reduce the impact of future tsunamis. If these tools are used in conjunction with a continuing educational program at the community level, at least 25% of the tsunami related deaths might be averted. By contrasting the casualties from the 1993 Sea of Japan tsunami with that of the 1998 Papua New Guinea tsunami, we can conclude that these tools work. For the Aonae, Japan case about 15% of the population at risk died from a tsunami that struck within 10 minutes of the earthquake because the population was educated about tsunamis, evacuation plans had been developed, and a warning was issued. For the Warapa, Papua New Guinea case about 40% of the at risk population died from a tsunami that arrived within 15 minutes of the earthquake because the population was not educated, no evacuation plan was available, and no warning system existed.

Eddie N. Bernard

References:

Bernard, E.N. (1998): Program aims to reduce impact of tsunamis on Pacific states. Eos Trans. AGU, 79(22), 258, 262-263.

Bernard, E.N. (1999): Tsunami. Natural Disaster Management, Tudor Rose, Leicester, England, 58-60.

Synolakis, C., P. Liu, G. Carrier, H. Yeh, Tsunamigenic Sea-Floor Deformations, Science, 278, 598-600, 1997.

Dudley, Walter C., and Min Lee (1998): Tsunami! Second Edition, University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu, Hawaii.

• Skip to main content

India’s Largest Career Transformation Portal

Essay on Tsunami for Students in English | 500+ Words Essay

January 1, 2021 by Sandeep

Essay on Tsunami: A sudden, unexpected series of ocean waves of high risen wavelengths are called tsunami waves. They are strong currents of water waves that rush through inland spaces, flood nearby areas and last for a long time. They are seismic waves that trigger landslide undersea and force themselves through any obstacle on their way. Large volumes of water are displaced at great transoceanic distances at high speeds.

Essay on Tsunami 500 Words in English

Below we have provided Tsunami Essay in English, suitable for class 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.

A tsunami is a series of fierce waves generated by the displacement of water. They occur in substantial water bodies due to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions. Tsunamis are also oftenly referred to as tidal waves. The waves are very high in magnitude as well as their length, and they can be immensely destructive.

Japan is the country which has recorded the most significant number of tsunamis. The tsunami generated in the Indian Ocean in the year 2004 is still considered as the most upsetting tsunami taking more than two hundred thousand lives. Tsunamis are quite rare in occurrence as compared to other natural disasters , but they are equally damaging.

Causes of Tsunami

The leading cause of a tsunami is attributable to an earthquake . However, even volcanic eruptions, landslides and comets or other heavenly bodies hitting the sea can be a source. When the tectonic plates of the earth positioned under the sea are disturbed, an earthquake takes place, causing the seawater to displace and erupt in sudden waves. These waves move further and further towards the shores. They can go unnoticed in the deep ocean but become more prominent as the water becomes shallow.

Landslides are another prominent cause of a tsunami. When heavy debris falls without warning with massive force into the sea, it causes a tremendous ripple effect. This ripple effect thus, causes tidal waves to form, which ultimately rise towards the land and cause massive destruction. During the eruption of a volcano on land, debris falls with a great thrust into the water body, causing the same ripple effect. Volcanoes can be underwater as well. They are known as submarine volcanoes. Tsunamis can further occur as a result of meteorological activity and human-made triggers.

Effects of Tsunami

When water washes away the shores with such colossal force, it damages the sewage system and freshwater. It also causes water fit for drinking to erode and contaminate. Because of the water being stagnant and polluted, numerous diseases like malaria affect a large number of people. They become ill, and infections spread quickly. A tsunami may even destroy nuclear plants which result in emittance of harmful radiations. These radiations are fatal to the health of every living organism. Mass evacuations become necessary in areas exposed to radiations because they can result in cancer, death and can even affect the DNA structures.

The saddest effect of a tsunami is the loss of lives in huge numbers. Tsunamis hit suddenly, with almost no warning and hence people get no time to escape it or run away. They drown, collapse, are electrocuted, etc. Tsunamis not only cause massive destruction of life but also degrade the environment in a gigantic way. It uproots trees and destroys pipelines which lead to the release of dioxides, raw sewage and other pollutants into the atmosphere. When these hazardous pollutants are washed into the sea, they also cause unbearable damage to the aquatic underwater life.

When the waves of a powerful tsunami smash the shores, they destroy trees, cars, buildings, telephone lines, pipelines and other man-made equipment into bits and pieces. Poverty rises in areas which get most affected by the wrath of tsunamis. The governments are also able to do little for their betterment immediately due to the high funding requirement and expenses.

Prevention of Tsunami

The government can invest in building strong and high protective infrastructure which can withstand the force of a tsunami. The length should be so tall, that the most upper wave of the tsunami cannot over top it. Also, heavy construction and livelihood activities in tsunami-prone areas can be avoided. The local authorities can install an efficient and fast early warning system. This would help to get all the people on alert. This way, more and more people would evacuate or leave the areas of danger, and human life destruction could be minimised.

Educating people and making them aware of the effects and impact of a tsunami is exceptionally crucial. They should be taught about the early warning signals of a tsunami and how to identify them. They should also learn how to be fully prepared in tough times like these instead of panicking and rapidly running around. Planting the coastal regions and boundaries with trees such as Mangroves which can absorb tidal wave energy can be another option. These can help to reduce the impact of a tsunami and curb the levels of destruction caused.

• Play & Activities
• Life Skills
• Learning & Education
• Play & Learning

• Growth & Development
• Rhymes & Songs
• Preschool Locator

Essay On Tsunami – 10 Lines, Short & Long Essay For Children

Key Points To Remember: Essay On Tsunami For Lower Primary Classes

10 lines on tsunami for kids, a paragraph on tsunami in english for children, short essay on tsunami for kids, long essay on tsunami for children, what will your child learn from this essay, interesting facts about tsunami for kids.

The word ‘Tsunami’ is of Japanese origin, which means harbour wave. A tsunami is the repetition of long-wavelength water waves triggered due to quakes and volcanic eruptions in ocean beds. If the earthquake fails to cause a tsunami inside the ocean, it will mostly cause a landslide. This tsunami essay for classes 1, 2 and 3 will help your child learn about new things. A tsunami essay in English will also improve ability to convert thoughts into words, positively impacting communication and vocabulary.

A topic like tsunami isn’t a very easy topic to write about. Children might need the assistance of parents or teachers to write about tsunamis. Here are a few key points to remember when writing a composition on tsunami for lower primary classes:

• Use videos or pictures while explaining tsunamis to kids. Visual aids help in better memorisation.
• Keep the content crisp and clear. A tsunami is a phenomenon that involves geographical terms. So, keep in mind to use simple language.
• Encourage your child to write their essay independently once the basics are covered.

What is a tsunami? How does it occur, and what is its impact? Get answers to these questions from the essay for class 1 and 2 kids on tsunamis. Mentioned below are a few lines on tsunami:

• Tsunamis are natural disasters that cause harm to the environment.
• It happens due to an earthquake underwater.
• These occur unexpectedly.
• Volcanic eruptions, plate shifting, the sinking of the earth, etc., are other reasons for tsunamis.
• The term tsunami means harbour waves.
• It has a series of waves with a high wavelength, capable of serious damage.
• The waves created in seas and oceans move towards the land and destroy buildings, homes, forests, etc.
• Landslides also lead to tsunamis.
• Most tsunamis often happen in the Pacific ocean.
• India experienced a similarly destructive Tsunami in 2004.

Do you want to read a short paragraph on tsunamis for children? Then, you are at the right place. Given below is a template for reference:

A tsunami is a series of waves of high wavelengths that cause water to move toward the land. It happens due to earthquakes whose main point is in the water/ocean. Greeks were the first to notice the effects of tsunamis. Sudden volcanic eruptions in the ocean beds, the sinking of the earth, etc., are the other major reasons for tsunamis. Like any other natural calamity, it causes widespread damage to human lives, buildings and trees. Underwater explosions can lead to tsunamis as well. The Pacific Ocean is known to be the hub of tsunamis. Ports and harbours get affected badly by tsunamis.

Looking for a simple-written short essay for classes 1,2 and 3 on tsunamis for kids to understand? Well, search no further. Given below is the template for the same:

A tsunami is defined as a series of waves of high wavelengths that cause water to move toward the land. It happens due to earthquakes whose main point is in the water. Greeks were the first to study the effects of tsunamis, and the only difference between earthquakes and tsunamis is that the latter happens in water. Tsunamis are called seismic waves. We should know that all seismic waves are tsunamis, but earthquakes are not the sole cause of all tsunamis. It also occurs due to sudden volcanic eruptions in the ocean beds, the sinking of the earth, etc. Like any other natural calamity, it causes widespread damage to human lives, public and private properties, and forests. Underwater explosions can lead to tsunamis as well. The Pacific Ocean is known to be the hub of tsunamis. During tsunamis, marine life is also get affected.

Natural calamities like tsunamis occur due to various reasons and cause damage to living and non-living. Here is an essay for class 3 kids on the causes, impacts and history of tsunamis.

History of Tsunami

According to legend, the Greek historian Thucydides suggested that there might be a connection between undersea earthquakes and tsunamis. But until the 20th century, knowledge of the causes and nature of tsunamis was limited. Ammianus, a Roman historian, characterised the sequence of events leading up to a tsunami as an earthquake, a quick retreat of the sea, and then a massive wave. The highest ever tsunami took place in a bay along the coasts of Alaska on July 9th, 1958.

What are the Causes and Effects of Tsunami?

Causes of Tsunami 

• Earthquakes and Landslides:  Shifts in tectonic plates cause earthquakes, and when the main point is in the water, a tsunami is triggered. Sometimes landslides induced by earthquakes lead to these tidal waves.
• Volcanic Eruptions in Sea Beds:  Volcanic eruptions in sea beds are another cause of these high wavelength waves.
• The Sinking of The Earth:  Changes in the earth’s crust or interiors often lead to the sinking of the earth, and this sudden shift can trigger a tsunami.
• Underwater Explosions:  Incidents like meteor collisions with the earth, or chunks of ice breaking off from glaciers lead to underwater explosions.

Effects of Tsunami

• Boats and Ships Sink:  The crashing of such high waves causes widespread damage to boats and ships off the coast.
• It Ruins Buildings, Trees and Houses:  Since the water moves towards the land and is of high velocity, it can destroy homes, uproot trees and displace vehicles.
• Causes:  As in the case of any natural calamity, a tsunami also takes a toll on people’s lives.

How Can Tsunami Be Prevented?

The effects of a tsunami can be reduced by avoiding inundation areas, slowing down water by building ditches, slopes, etc. and steering water to strategically placed walls or structures. An alert well ahead of time can also reduce the damage percentage.

How To Prepare for a Tsunami Disaster?

• To escape a tsunami, go 100 feet above sea level or 2 miles away.
• Often there are weather reports and cautionary warnings for a tsunami. Please take care to follow them.
• Every foot inland or upward is sure to make a difference!
• If you can see the wave, you are too close for safety!

Your child will learn about the causes, history and effects of natural disasters such as tsunamis. They will also understand essay writing and its ways better.

• The word tsunami means harbour wave in Japanese.
• The Pacific Ocean is the hub of tsunamis.
• The first wave of a tsunami is never the biggest.
• The series of waves generated by a tsunami is called a wave train.
• Often called tidal waves, tsunamis are not related to ocean tides.

What is the Difference Between Earthquake and Tsunami?

The major difference between an earthquake and a tsunami is that tsunamis are triggered by earthquakes whose main point is in the oceans or seas. And earthquakes happen on the land.

Topics like composition on tsunamis create awareness about natural calamities and the damage these can cause to humans. Teach your child about possible effects and help them learn new things.

Save The Environment Essay for Kids Essay On Nature for Class 1, 2 and 3 Children Essay on Importance of Water for Lower Primary Classes

• Essays for Class 1
• Essays for Class 2
• Essays for Class 3

5 Recommended Books To Add To Your Child’s Reading List and Why

5 absolute must-watch movies and shows for kids, 15 indoor toys that have multiple uses and benefits, leave a reply cancel reply.

Log in to leave a comment

Most Popular

The best toys for newborns according to developmental paediatricians, the best toys for three-month-old baby brain development, recent comments.

FirstCry Intelli Education is an Early Learning brand, with products and services designed by educators with decades of experience, to equip children with skills that will help them succeed in the world of tomorrow.

Story Related Activities Designed to Bring the Story to Life and Create Fun Memories.

Online Preschool is the Only Way Your Child's Learning Can Continue This Year, Don't Wait Any Longer - Get Started!

©2021 All rights reserved

• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use

Welcome to the world of Intelli!

We have some FREE Activity E-books waiting for you. Fill in your details below so we can send you tailor- made activities for you and your little one.

Welcome to the world of intelli!

FREE guides and worksheets coming your way on whatsapp. Subscribe Below !!

THANK YOU!!!

Here are your free guides and worksheets.

• Get involved

From Victims to Survivors - Tsunami Stories of Hope

Welcome remarks delivered by Asako Okai, UN Assistant Secretary-General & Director, UNDP Crisis Bureau at the World Bosai Forum UNDP, Tohoku University Joint Session

March 13, 2023

Raising awareness can save lives and livelihoods, particularly when it is linked to multi-hazard preparedness.

UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director, UNDP Crisis Bureau

Distinguished guests, ladies, and gentlemen,

Today, we gather on a solemn occasion, the memorial day of the Great East Japan Earthquake, to commemorate the lives lost and to celebrate the resilience of the survivors and their communities.

Together with our partners from Tohoku University, we honor the memory of these victims through stories of hope.

Japan has faced numerous disasters in the past, including earthquakes, typhoons, and tsunamis, and the country has accumulated a wealth of knowledge and expertise from those experiences.

And the lessons learned from the devastating tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake have been especially valuable.

One of the most important lessons is the crucial role of awareness in disaster preparedness and early action.

Across Asia and the Pacific, UNDP has been supporting schools and communities in tsunami-prone areas through preparedness plans and awareness campaigns to mitigate the impact of tsunamis.

Since 2017, we have been working with the Government of Japan to implement a regional project to strengthen school preparedness for tsunamis.

As a result, over 200,000 students, teachers, and school administrators from 450 schools in 24 Asia Pacific countries have been trained in tsunami preparedness and have participated in safe evacuation drills.

Awareness is the foundation of a comprehensive understanding of risks, which can enable early action and help reduce the devastating impact of disasters.

However, we must also acknowledge that we cannot perfectly predict when and where disasters, including tsunami risks, will occur.

That is why it is essential to be prepared for disaster risks every day, as we tend to forget about the risks of disasters and assume that they are far from us.

The voices of people who have experienced tsunamis firsthand remind us of how terrifying the risks of disasters can be, how important it is to prepare in advance, and how preparedness can save lives.

In today's session, we have esteemed panelists who are sharing their experiences and lessons learned from their tsunami experiences or from participating in training and drills conducted by UNDP. They are working to strengthen disaster preparedness, including tsunami preparedness, in their communities and schools.

Our Tsunami Storybooks feature the accounts of people who have experienced tsunamis and have passed on their knowledge to save others. The books are designed to raise awareness by capturing young readers' attention through simple words and actionable information.

Today, we are launching the 5th storybook, which features the story of a trip to visit the area hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake, where we met with people in Tohoku to listen to their voices and learn from their strength and resilience.

Disaster risk reduction requires a collective effort from all stakeholders, including governments, civil society, academia, and the private sector.

But above all – it requires us to listen and to learn from each other.

With joint effort and shared experience we can build a more resilient future for all.

• TOP CATEGORIES
• AS and A Level
• University Degree
• International Baccalaureate
• Uncategorised
• 5 Star Essays
• Study Tools
• Study Guides
• Meet the Team
• English Language
• Writing to Inform, Explain and Describe

Creative Writing- The Tsunami

                                Creative Writing- The Tsunami                                

The tides came crashing through, eliminating everything that came in their way. We were like little ants scurrying around looking for our home, a shelter, anything that would protect us from the savage tide that wanted to wipe us off of the face of the earth. It was too late for the people on the beach; they had already been taken prisoner, drowned forever in their tears of sorrow and fear.

It didn’t feel like it would be much longer before I was shackled and chained up as well. I felt like I had been running for hours, I wouldn’t have been able to keep it up for much longer. The tide just kept coming and there was nothing powerful enough to stop it. What about God? What about The Almighty One that I had been praying to for all these years? This would’ve been a great time for Him to make an entrance. I began to feel the water around my ankles. They were trying to clasp me… trying to imprison me for eternity. It felt like it was over for me, time to give up and hand myself in… but for what? I mean I hadn’t done anything wrong and I’ve still got my whole life ahead of me. I wasn’t about to give in just yet, and luckily God just made His entrance. I could hear the tide slowing down behind me, but it wasn’t over yet though. I could see a rising shadow going on for at least two hundred yards ahead of me, I turned around with apprehension and looked it in the eye. It looked back snarling, the blue, translucent wave crashed on top of me.

I woke up squinting; the light was penetrating my eye. I stood up and found myself naked in the middle of the Sri Lankan jungle. Was it Sri Lanka? Or was it heaven? Last thing I remember was me knocked out after something hit me. Was it a fist? Was it a bus? I hadn’t a clue. I guess this must be heaven. Wow, I would never have thought I’d die at the age of sixteen. Well at least I don’t have to go to school tomorrow!

I searched around the Garden of Eden; there was no shortage of sweet coconuts or juicy mangos, but where was everyone else? Could this be hell and not heaven? I mean hell doesn’t necessarily have to be a fiery cave where there’s a guy in a red cape prodding you with his trident. I heard about this sort of thing, my mum told me. She said hell is your worst nightmare, you may not even know what it is, but it is your worst nightmare. My heart began to beat faster, what if this is hell? What if I’m never going to see my parent’s again? I began to run. I don’t know where I was running to, but I just had to get out of this place. ‘Garden of Eden’! What was I thinking?

It began to get dark and I was still naked without a single cloth to cover my shame. I was cold and frightened so I used the large palm leaves to keep myself warm over the night.

I woke up, still distraught. ‘He’s over here! I found him! He’s over here!’ announced a dirty, scruffy man strapped with an AK-47. Confused and afraid I began to back off as he tried to come nearer. I drew further away as he drew nearer. Another man came up behind me and another two had me from the sides… I was surrounded.

This is a preview of the whole essay

They began to snarl and snigger, telling me I had nowhere to hide. One of them drew nearer not knowing that I was aware of him, he tried to pounce and that’s when I made a break for it. He came up from behind and tried to grab me into a headlock, I spun around leaving him head first in the dirt and just ran. The others, after tending to their partner, began to chase me. They had no chance of catching me. I was young, fit and scared out of my wits…I ran for my life.

Once establishing they had no chance of catching me they began to shoot. Four or five whizzed passed my shoulder until one hit me in the leg. It pierced my left leg ripped through my muscle and came out through the front. I hit the ground pretty hard and banged my head against a blunt rock that was ‘conveniently’ right where my head was.

I was knocked out again and woke up in a cell, this time I was dressed. One of the guys from earlier was rattling the cell bars to wake everyone up. Someone opened my cell door and began to walk towards me, I was still frightened and huddled myself in a corner. He violently grabbed me by my hair and threw me out of the cell. There were other prisoners there, some that I’m positive I recognised from before I got knocked out and ended up in the jungle. What on earth was going on? Was this really hell?

The guard who dragged me by the hair asked me what was wrong with me. I had a million things wrong with me, I didn’t know where to begin. Instead I just kept quiet and unwillingly got into the line.

 We marched to the showers outside. For some reason I was hesitant to get into the showers, I just felt like there was a danger or something when it came to water. The guards arrived soon and I was forced to take a shower. I wasn’t about to try and find out what would happen if I didn’t. After the shower, we were taken to some sort of boot camp. There was an assault course, rifle shooting, everything, as though we were some kind of trainee army. There were no women here it was just men. The ages ranged from about twelve to forty. We were being treated like dogs, we had to complete the assault course fifteen times within a time limit, or otherwise they would shoot us in the foot. I didn’t know what was going on, but I decided that I was just going to do as I was told.

I saw one of the younger kid’s he was about thirteen years old with short hair, he was struggling a lot with the course and began to lose his breath. He fell at the second to last hurdle and everyone began to over take him. I looked over to the guards… they noticed him. One of the guards came rushing over, swearing at the boy and lifted the boy by his ear. The boy began to whimper as the guard threw countless slaps across the boy’s face. The guard took the boy into the jungle… every one stopped when they began to hear the boy wailing and crying out for help. The boy came out whimpering, holding on to his falling trousers as he ran in to the toilets. The guard came out a few seconds after with a satisfied smirk on his face, tucking his shirt in to his trousers. Everyone glared at the guard with the most piercing of looks. The guard, tense and somewhat frightened, shot his rifle in the air and yelled at everyone to get back to what they were doing.

I was first to finish the assault course and I asked if I could go to the toilet. The guard said ‘be quick’. When I got to the toilet I heard whimpering, it was the young boy. I found him curled up inside one of the cubicles. He told me to go away when I asked him what happened in the jungle.

“I’m only here to help, I won’t tell anyone… what happened?”

“As if you don’t know”

He replied in a shuddering voice. I asked him his name, he replied ‘Bhavan’. I asked Bhavan how he got here. He gave me a weird look and replied ‘You know very well how I got here you bastard, leave me alone!’ I didn’t know what I had done to make him so angry with me.

“Look here’s the deal, I woke up yesterday in the middle of that jungle, and some men chased me then shot me. I woke up this morning in the cell without a clue where I am, what I’m doing here, who these people are, or how I’m going to get out of here! Now can you help me with any of these question’s or not?”

“You’re that boy aren’t you?”

“What?”

“You’re that boy, the one that survived the tsunami”

“What tsu-…”

That’s when it hit me I began to remember everything. I was out with my family; my mum, my dad and my little sister. We were on our way to the beach, but mum forgot the sun tan lotion and

I had to go back home and get it. When I got home I went upstairs to check in mum and dad’s bedroom. I couldn’t find it so I came back downstairs and saw it in the living room on the coffee table. I went to retrieve it… when I heard screams, very loud screams.

I rushed out side to see what it was. I saw an army of people, including my parents and my little sister, running towards me screaming and yelling for help. Still I was unsure what they were running away from and suddenly out of nowhere a gargantuan tidal wave washed them clean away. Shocked and unbelieving I stood there for at least another minute rubbing my eyes in disbelief. I saw another wave heading my way. I ran and I ran but the wave got me too. But…I didn’t die. Someone…those guards they rescued me. They took my body before the water back flowed in to the ocean. Once I’d regained consciousness…. that guard… the one that took Bhavan into the jungle, I remember him whispering some thing in my ear as I woke up. He told me he’d be gentle. He said to be quiet. He said this was our little secret. I looked around and we were…we were naked? Confused and frightened I stood up shocked. He asked me to calm down and when I refused, we got into a bit of a fight, and then he injected me with something; a sleepy drug that knocks you out and erases your memory or something. Before the drug got to its full effect I managed to break free of his grasp and made a run for it to the jungle. Then those guards shot at me and I woke up here.

 When I told Bhavan all of this his face looked as though it had just seen a ghost. Bhavan told me that these ‘soldiers’ were the ‘Tamil Tigers’ a rebel gang that wanted to overtake the Sri Lankan government. They were recruiting young orphans and those who have nothing to lose to fight for them. The guard that raped Bhavan and I was General Gander, he ran this place. He was behind so many attacks on civilians in Sri Lanka. As Bhavan told me all this I became shocked and enraged, I was absolutely fuming, I needed to do something, I had to get back at General Gander for what he’d done.

That night I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t stop thinking about my family…well at least they were together. I started to reminisce all the good times I used to have with my family. All of the joyous moments we shared together, like that time when we went to India and that monkey was following us everywhere, he stole Suzie’s lunch.

I couldn’t take it any more! What was the use in me living!? I don’t believe in a single thing that these ‘rebels’ were fighting for. And that General Gander… I wanted to murder him!

The next morning I awoke sharp and alert, the perfect soldier, only spoke when spoken to, best at the rifle shooting, didn’t make eye contact with anyone… Then he arrived.

 That sadistic monster crawled out of his hole and came out to inspect the rifle shooting. Bhavan was shooting about ten yards away and there were four people between us. Bhavan began to shake and shiver, he couldn’t even hold his rifle upright when Gander arrived. Bhavan was next to be inspected and he started to whimper again. Gander waltzed up behind with a smirk. He grasped a hold of Bhavan’s buttocks and whispered something in his ear. Bhavan began to shiver and shake so much that his knees turned to jelly and he couldn’t even stand up. The poor boy wet his pants and was standing in a puddle of his own urine. A few of the guards and some of the other younger prisoners began to laugh at him. Gander didn’t have a clue what was going to happen when he got to me.

He was done with the guy beside me then he came over to me. This was it, this was my chance to kill him and no way was I about to hesitate. Gander didn’t recognise me I kept my face forward and he stood behind me. He wrote a few things on his clipboard then moved on.

I grabbed Gander from behind. I locked my right arm around his neck and held my rifle to his head. All the guards raised their AK-47’s and aimed them straight at me. They kept shouting at me to put the gun down. Why couldn’t I pull the trigger? I’d been planning this all day and night.          

   I failed… I couldn’t pull the trigger… I don’t know what happened. The need I had for Gander’s blood was lost and as I loosened my grip around Gander’s neck he was able to escape and shouted;

“Cuff up this Bastard!”

The soldiers beat me to my knees in front of everyone. They held me still and pulled my head back from my hair as Gander reached for his pistol.

“Let this be a lesson to all of you, if you think you can take me this is what happens!”         

As he was cocking his pistol he aimed it directly at my throat. It was the end for me, I had my chance and I blew it. Everyone stood anxious and nervous to see if he was really going to shoot.

“BANG!”

I opened my eyes and I was still there. I had no wounds, no blood was pouring out of the back of my head. I was still alive. Gander collapsed to the ground a clean bullet hole went straight through his head. Behind him stood Bhavan still shivering and whimpering this time his hands clasped a smoking rifle that was aimed directly at Gander’s head.

The guards didn’t know what to do. They were shocked, still holding my hair. I stood up and pushed them aside. All the prisoners, armed with rifles. We stood side by side facing the weak and vulnerable guards. One of the guards reached for his weapon, and then we just started firing. We shot and shot at them until the end of our magazines.

We were free, no more Gander, no more guards. The prisoners began to dance and hoololate.

“We are free!”  

One man shouted. I still didn’t feel free… I thought the death of Gander would bring me joy and happiness. I ran to the jungle. Once I got there I just started to run and run some more, in no particular direction, just until the day comes that I may join my parents and my little sister.  

Document Details

• Word Count 2700
• Page Count 4
• Subject English

Related Essays

creative writing

financial tsunami

Creative Writing

Tsunami Warning and Preparedness: An Assessment of the U.S. Tsunami Program and the Nation's Preparedness Efforts (2011)

Chapter: summary.

A tsunami is a series of waves that can move on shore rapidly, but last for several hours and flood coastal communities with little warning. Tsunamis can be triggered by a variety of geological processes such as earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, or meteorite impacts. Since modern record keeping began in 1800, they have taken many lives in Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, California, Oregon, and American Samoa. The threat of a potentially catastrophic tsunami on U.S. soil looms in seismically active regions in the Pacific and Atlantic ( Figure S.1 ). More recently, tsunamis generated by earthquakes in West Java (July 2006), Samoa (September 2009), and Chile (February 2010) have flooded some U.S. coastlines, highlighting the need for a focused and well-coordinated effort to minimize the loss of life and property.

In the wake of the catastrophic 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which caused more than 200,000 deaths and widespread destruction, Congress passed two laws intended to increase efforts to diminish the potential impact of a tsunami. The first P.L. 109-13 in 2005 was aimed at expanding the current tsunami detection system; and the second P.L. 109-424 in 2006 asked the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program (NTHMP) to strengthen the nation’s tsunami detection, warning, education, and preparedness efforts.

At the same time, Congress charged the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to review the nation’s progress toward the ability to detect and forecast tsunamis. In particular, the committee was asked to review how the expansion of the sea level sensor network has improved the ability to detect and forecast tsunamis; how the tsunami program could be improved; and how well it is coordinated with other efforts. The NAS expanded the scope of the study to also review the nation’s ability to minimize the impact from future tsunamis by educating and preparing the American public. The complete statement of task is provided in Appendix B .

Overall, the committee found that the nation’s tsunami efforts have improved in several ways since 2004. For example, the expansion of the Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) sensor network has improved the ability to detect and forecast the size of tsunamis, the number and quality of hazard and evacuation maps has increased, and several states have assessed the number and types of vulnerable individuals in tsunami-prone areas. In addition, numerous tsunami education and awareness efforts have been initiated.

However, current capabilities are still not sufficient to meet the challenge posed by a tsunami generated close to land (see Box S.1 ). Near-field tsunamis can reach the coast just minutes after the triggering event—leaving little time to disseminate official warning messages. Tsunami education and preparation is necessary to ensure people are aware of the tsunami risk in their community and know how to recognize natural cues, such as the tremors of a tsunami-triggering earthquake, even if they do not receive an official warning. Communities at a

FIGURE S.1 Global map of active volcanoes and plate tectonics illustrating the “Ring of Fire” and depicting subduction zones; both areas associated with frequent seismic activity. SOURCE: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Imgs/Gif/PlateTectonics/Maps/map_plate_tectonics_world_bw.gif ; USGS.

greater distance from the triggering event might feel the ground shaking only weakly and not recognize the need to evacuate although a tsunami could arrive in as little as an hour. In this case, detection, forecast, and warning systems would need to operate efficiently, and decision makers at Tsunami Warning Centers and state and local emergency managers would need to coordinate closely to ensure that a clear, consistent message is delivered— a daunting challenge that will require major improvements in all parts of the end-to-end tsunami program.

Considering the many independent and disparate efforts currently ongoing as part of the nation’s tsunami hazard mitigation efforts, the committee concluded that the best way to improve the current end-to-end tsunami warning system would be to define the characteristics of an ideal system that detects and forecasts the threat and coordinates risk assessment, public education, and the response to minimize loss of life and property in the event of a tsunami. Each component (risk assessment, education, detection and forecasting, and warning management) of this idealized system could then be compared against current and planned efforts to identify areas that need improvement.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION: A COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF TSUNAMI RISK

Understanding the nation’s tsunami risk 1 is the first step to building a comprehensive tsunami preparedness program. The nation is just beginning to define the hazards tsunamis pose, the populations and societal assets they threaten, and the readiness of individuals and communities to evacuate. Although much progress has been made, the nation remains far from understanding enough of its tsunami risk to set risk-based priorities for state and national efforts in tsunami preparedness, education, detection, and warning.

Assessing tsunami risk is challenging: there is a paucity of information about the frequency, source, and characteristics of past tsunamis and their reoccurrence intervals; vulnerability of coastal communities cannot be assessed without considering interdependencies from a larger economic and sociopolitical context; and the potential impacts of future events are uncertain. Although difficult to assess, societal risk from tsunamis is critical information in the development and prioritization of risk-reduction efforts including: education, preparedness planning, warning-system development, mitigation, and response strategies at the local, state, and federal level. The level of sophistication, accuracy, resolution, and format required for assessing societal risk to tsunamis will depend on the intended use of the information.

Recommendation: NOAA and its NTHMP partners, in collaboration with researchers in social and physical sciences, should complete an initial national assessment of tsunami risk in the near term to guide prioritization of program elements.

Tsunami hazard assessments focus on the physical characteristics of future tsunamis, especially on those that can pose a threat to people and the things they value. These characteristics

include the speed of onset, impact forces, currents, and the area that will be flooded. Understanding the hazard also requires an understanding of tsunami sources, for example, how often a coast is likely to have a tsunami and how large of a tsunami a source might generate. A typical tsunami hazard assessment accordingly includes:

studies of the locations, sizes, and histories of tsunami sources, which are usually earthquakes but can also be landslides or volcanic eruptions;

inundation models, which determine the areas most likely to be flooded;

hazard maps, which portray inundation models on maps that show roads, elevation and buildings, and other critical infrastructure; and

evacuation maps, which depict areas that need to be evacuated in the event of a tsunami and show evacuation routes to safe havens.

Modeling tsunami inundation begins at the tsunami source with estimates of the seafloor deformation that initiates the tsunami. The simulation also requires accurate information on the topography of the seafloor to understand the surface over which tsunami waves propagate, and a robust computational model to simulate the formation of tsunami waves.

Knowledge of the sizes and recurrence intervals of tsunami-triggering events is only now emerging and is improving the understanding of tsunami sources critical to producing a comprehensive tsunami hazard assessment; but currently, no formal procedures for periodic re-evaluation of tsunami risks exist. The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Earthquake Hazards Reduction program serves as an example of a successful and useful approach to periodic national hazard assessments that NOAA and its NTHMP partners could adapt. In particular, the USGS updates the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Maps at six-year intervals nationwide and at other intervals regionally.

Recommendation: NOAA and its NTHMP partners should institute a periodic assessment of the sources of tsunamis that threaten the United States.

The committee concludes that the accuracy and realism of tsunami inundation models is limited by scientific uncertainties in determining the source of tsunamis, limited spatial resolution of bathymetry, a lack of topography data, and difficulties in modeling the complexity of processes that take place when the tsunami wave interacts with buildings and natural features of the coast. Modeling efforts would greatly benefit from a rigorous vetting process, peer-review, and validation with field data.

Recommendation: To improve tsunami inundation modeling, the NTHMP should periodically review progress in hydrodynamic modeling.

Moreover, the committee found that the development and use of inundation models is not occurring in a coordinated or standardized fashion across the NTHMP. Instead, each member state independently selects the tsunami source, bathymetric and topographic data, and numerical code. Although state resources are used to leverage federal resources, this state-by-state based approach to tsunami inundation mapping, coupled with inadequate coordination

and consensus among NTHMP modelers and no external peer review, has created significant disparities in the methods, criteria, and judgments employed in tsunami inundation modeling and the resulting hazard maps that are based on these models.

Recommendation: The NTHMP should reduce unnecessary and costly disparities in inundation modeling approaches among states and territories. The NTHMP should conduct modeling efforts consistently across political boundaries and execute efforts through a cooperative partnership among NOAA, the USGS, and NTHMP members.

Evacuation maps are critical tools for preparing and educating the public about the hazard and the appropriate response before an impending tsunami. For most at-risk communities, the committee concludes that progress has been made toward generating improved evacuation maps. However, methods to produce evacuation maps vary greatly among NTHMP member states; that means at-risk populations must try to interpret different representations of tsunami risk. Due to the absence of uniform quality standards, evaluative metrics, or guidelines on effective approaches, the committee found it difficult to assess whether current evacuation maps are sufficient for enabling effective evacuations or preparing the public.

Recommendation: The NTHMP Mapping and Modeling Subcommittee should develop guidelines on evacuation-map production that fosters consistency in format and quality across the United States, and a national, online repository for tsunami evacuation maps.

Tsunamis pose risks only if they have the potential to impact people or the things people value. Therefore, a first step in understanding vulnerability is to inventory the number and characteristics of individuals in tsunami hazard zones. In addition, emergency managers should assess their demographic characteristics, as these can affect an individual’s ability to receive, understand, and respond to warning messages. For example, the very young and very old may need evacuation assistance and thus have higher sensitivity to tsunami hazards. Currently, there is no national assessment of population exposure and sensitivity to tsunamis, including the number and types of individuals in tsunami hazard zones. This lack of information limits abilities to assess national tsunami risk, develop realistic evacuation plans, and tailor education efforts to at-risk individuals.

Recommendation: The NTHMP should periodically inventory the number and type of people in tsunami hazard zones, with special attention to groups whose heightened sensitivity to tsunamis could constrain their ability to prepare for and evacuate from future tsunamis. The NTHMP should provide guidelines on how to use this information to tailor evacuation planning and education efforts.

Many communities in the United States are threatened by near-source tsunamis, but few evacuation studies have been conducted to evaluate the ability of at-risk individuals to reach higher ground before tsunami waves arrive. For example, local earthquakes that generate near-source tsunamis have the potential to impact roads, infrastructure such as bridges, or facilities essential for response efforts. Preparedness efforts would greatly benefit from assessing how these earthquake damages impact the ability to evacuate. Without such information, emer-

gency managers are not able to identify where targeted outreach and evacuation assistance will be needed.

Recommendation: For all communities with near-source tsunami threats, the NTHMP should conduct evacuation modeling studies to assess the likelihood of successful evacuations.

PREPARING IN ADVANCE THROUGH A CONSISTENT PUBLIC EDUCATION CAMPAIGN

Surviving a tsunami depends on the ability of an individual in the hazard zone to recognize warning signals, make correct decisions, and act quickly. For near-field tsunamis, waves will arrive within minutes after generation; therefore, at-risk individuals will need to recognize natural cues such as the ground shaking or the receding of the water line as the primary warning. Knowledge and readiness gained through pre-event education may save lives. For far-field tsunamis, waves will arrive several hours after generation, and individuals need to understand official warnings and follow instructions given by local agencies. Regardless of the tsunami source, integrated public education and preparedness planning are necessary to protect lives and to make tsunami knowledge commonplace and ingrained into local culture and folk wisdom.

Educating At-Risk Individuals

Tsunami education in U.S. coastal communities is a major challenge because it requires reaching hundreds of coastal communities with hundreds of thousands of residents, employees, and tourists. The NTHMP Mitigation and Education Subcommittee is charged with assessing tsunami education needs for the nation, addressing these needs through targeted products and activities, and then sharing these products with other at-risk coastal areas.

Tsunami outreach and educational programs can draw from a rich base of research on enhancing hazard education to motivate the public to prepare for future hazards. For example, research has shown that training campaigns and the dissemination of education products are more effective when tailored to the strengths and vulnerabilities of specific communities. A campaign designed for long-time residents would capitalize on familiarity of the surroundings, as well as emphasize household preparation strategies and the importance of creating community networks. In contrast, a program designed for tourists and other transient populations would focus on easily identifiable landmarks, would provide information via signs posted in prominent locations, and would train hotel and tourist services staff such as tour guides, life guards, and vendors to provide assistance to tourists.

The committee was requested to review the availability and adequacy of tsunami education and outreach. One obstacle to this task was that no systematic evaluation of U.S. tsunami education efforts has been conducted at a national scale. No compilation or inventory of

NTHMP-related tsunami efforts was available at the time of this review, although it is a current goal of the NTHMP. A second obstacle is a lack of pre- and post-outreach evaluations and post-event assessments. Because there are few studies that documented the perceptions, knowledge, and capacity to prepare at-risk populations, there are no consistent baselines or metrics to gauge the effectiveness of education programs.

The committee concludes that current tsunami education efforts are not sufficiently coordinated and run the danger of communicating inconsistent and potentially confusing messages.

Recommendation: To increase the effectiveness of tsunami education, the NTHMP should

develop consistent education efforts among its members using evidence-based approaches,

tailor tsunami education to local circumstances,

create and maintain an online repository of education efforts,

develop and implement an evaluation program of the effectiveness of education efforts, and

leverage hazard-education efforts and expertise of other NOAA entities.

Because pre-event education is critical to saving lives during a near-field tsunami, the committee concludes that tracking progress in education and outreach efforts in communities threatened by near-field tsunamis is a high priority.

Recommendation: The NTHMP should prioritize systematic, coordinated perception and preparedness studies of communities with near-field tsunami sources to determine whether at-risk individuals are able to recognize natural cues of tsunamis and to take self-protective actions.

Preparing Communities

Because of the breadth and diversity of actions that could be taken to increase preparedness, the committee restricted its review of community preparedness to NOAA’s TsunamiReady Program, which has emerged in recent years as a framework for improving tsunami preparedness in coastal jurisdictions. TsunamiReady is a voluntary program that aims to help communities reduce the potential impacts from tsunami-related disasters through redundant and reliable warning communications, better preparation through community education, and official readiness through formal planning and exercises. It sets minimum guidelines, such as having the ability to communicate warnings to the local population, and encourages consistency in educational materials. Traditionally, the program has measured its success by the number of communities recognized as TsunamiReady annually. However, the committee questions the effectiveness of the program and its success criteria, because the program lacks the following elements:

a professional standard to guide its development,

metrics to assess baseline readiness and community needs,

evaluative criteria to assess community performance during a tsunami,

accountability measures to ensure recognized communities meet and continue to meet mandatory requirements,

local points of contact with training in community preparedness, and

criteria and guidance on what constitutes effective public outreach and preparedness efforts.

The Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) aims to improve community preparedness for natural hazards. Unlike TsunamiReady, EMAP is more broadly geared to all-hazards mitigation. EMAP is the nationally recognized standard for emergency management and provides criteria to assess current programs or to develop, implement, and maintain a program to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters and emergencies. Its process for accreditation is transparent and applied through peer review. Because TsunamiReady’s current requirements are not well structured and do not fit the concept, terminology, and format of a standard, the program could improve by drawing on EMAP’s well-established standard, process, and experience with the emergency management community.

Recommendation: The NOAA Tsunami Program could strengthen the TsunamiReady Program by modeling it after the Emergency Management Accreditation Program.

Developing and Delivering Effective Warning Messages

The likelihood of individuals responding to tsunami warnings depends on the quality, clarity, and accuracy of the official warning messages they receive from the two Tsunami Warning Centers (TWCs) and/or local and state emergency management agencies. An effective message contains the necessary information to motivate individuals to take self-protective action and must reach at-risk people in a timely fashion. It is critical that warning messages: are accurate and consistent; use language that allows a person to visualize the proper response; make clear when recommended actions should begin and finish; identify who needs to evacuate and who does not; and explain how taking the protective action will reduce the pending consequences of not taking action at all.

Currently, both the TWCs issue a tsunami warning, advisory, watch, and information statement through multiple official channels following detection of a tsunami-triggering event. It then becomes the responsibility of local or state officials to take the appropriate actions and issue their own messages and evacuation orders to individuals in tsunami-prone areas. The generation of two different tsunami warning messages has created confusion among the media, some local officials, and the general public, and will likely continue to do so unless message content is improved or a single message is issued.

Recommendation: If distinct messages are to be produced by the two TWCs, then the messages should be consistent. Ideally, the committee recommends that one message be released by the two TWCs that includes information for all areas under their responsibility.

Recommendation: The NOAA/National Weather Service (NWS) should better integrate the TWC warning functions with the state, county, and city warning functions with regard to message content and dissemination methods for the public by developing formal TWC outreach plans and assessing needs and priorities of TWC customers.

Coordinating Across All Levels of Government

State working groups, regional groups, and the NTHMP facilitate the coordination and planning across jurisdictional boundaries, including the coordination of educational efforts and opportunities to provide feedback to the TWCs on warning messages. These efforts are valuable in contributing to pre-event planning and coordination, but they could be strengthened through additional exercises and drills focused on improving evacuation procedures during an event.

Current efforts to practice evacuation procedures and protocols include community-led evacuation drills, live code “end-to-end” tests, table-top exercises among emergency management agencies, and functional exercises to test interagency communication and coordination. The committee concludes that the importance of these approaches vary based on local conditions and tsunami threat, and include specific conclusions for both far-field and near-field tsunamis.

Far-field tsunami threats: Evacuations will be managed by multiple agencies over many hours; therefore, exercises are important to engage agencies to discuss and test coordination and communication. However, the committee concludes that evacuation drills are not advisable because of the risks associated with such drills, especially in larger communities.

Near-field tsunami threats: Initial evacuations will be self-directing after at-risk individuals recognize natural cues. The committee concludes, however, that table-top and functional exercises are still important because of the significant response and relief operations after the initial tsunami wave arrives. The committee concludes that these community-led, voluntary drills may be useful in promoting tsunami awareness, providing social cues, and building social networks but only in small communities that have limited vertical-evacuation options and may have less than 30 minutes to evacuate.

Recommendation: The NTHMP should actively encourage member states to develop and maintain active tsunami working groups to help facilitate and coordinate tsunami education, preparedness, and warning dissemination.

Recommendation: To ensure that managed evacuations for far-field tsunamis are effective and minimize societal and economic interruptions, the NTHMP should develop guidelines on the design of effective exercises for use by emergency management agencies.

Considering their multiple responsibilities and limited resources, the TWCs should be commended for their commitment to establishing connections with external groups and coordinating their efforts. However, relatively few staff resources have been dedicated to maintaining partnerships with customers, and existing efforts are secondary to the technical aspects of the warning centers. There are no formal outreach plans for media training or working with emergency management and response personnel, no formal training interaction for TWC watchstanders and state emergency management officials, and no formal standard operating procedures for evaluating the effectiveness of warning message content or channels. Retrospective reviews could enhance the effectiveness of the ongoing educational efforts and guide further improvements in community preparedness and coordination among decision makers.

Recommendation: After a significant tsunami warning is issued to U.S. communities (e.g., the 2010 Chilean event), the NOAA/NWS should initiate an independent review of TWC actions and its integration with its partners and customers through an external science review board and make findings public.

DETECTING AND FORECASTING TSUNAMIS

The two separate Tsunami Warning Centers monitor seismic activity to assess the potential for tsunami threats from earthquakes. The content of the first tsunami information statement, advisory, watch, or warning from the TWC is decided solely on seismic parameters and the historical record, if any, of past tsunamis generated in the area of the earthquake. Based on their own data analysis, the TWCs independently decide whether to issue alerts to the emergency managers in their respective areas of responsibility. This initial statement can be issued within 5-10 minutes after the earthquake is detected and might provide communities near the source with the only alert, if waves reach shore within minutes. However, this indirect seismic method has limited accuracy in its estimates of the strength of the tsunami. Because forecasters must err on the side of caution when human lives are at stake, the TWCs use conservative criteria for issuing advisories, watches, or warnings, which can lead to unwarranted evacuations costing millions of dollars.

Data from coastal sea level gauges and the open ocean DART network provide the only means to verify the existence of a tsunami and to forecast the height of the tsunami waves as they spread from the source. This information is used to adjust or cancel warnings, watches, and advisories. Coastal and open ocean sea level sensor networks can also detect tsunamis from sources that fail to generate seismic waves. Although the detection of the open ocean signal can occur within the first hour after the tsunami, forecasts might take longer. Thus, only communities farther from the tsunami source will benefit from these refined warning messages.

The committee concludes that the global networks that monitor seismic activity and coastal and open-ocean sea level variations remain essential to the tsunami warning process. The current global seismic network is adequate and sufficiently reliable for the purposes of detecting likely tsunami-triggering earthquakes. However, because the majority of the seismic stations are not operated by the TWCs, the availability of this critical data stream is vulnerable to changes outside of NOAA’s control.

The complex seismic processing algorithms used by the TWCs, given the availability of seismic data, quickly yield adequate estimates of earthquake location, depth, and magnitude for the purpose of tsunami warning. However, the methodologies are inexact, in part because of the physically variable nature of tsunamis, and in part because of the need for rapid determination of earthquake parameters that may not be definitive until the entire rupture process is complete (potentially tens of minutes). In the case of a very large earthquake the initial seismological assessment, although adequate for most medium-sized earthquakes, can underestimate the earthquake magnitude and lead to errors in assessing tsunami potential. In parallel to their own analyses, staff at the TWCs could avail themselves of earthquake locations and magnitudes that are estimated within minutes of an event from the USGS National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC). An interagency agreement could be established to make these initial estimates available on secure lines between the USGS and NOAA.

Recommendation: NOAA and the USGS could jointly prioritize the seismic stations needed for tsunami warnings to advocate for the upgrade and maintenance of the most critical stations over the long term.

Recommendation: The TWCs should work jointly with NEIC to test the utility of the W-phase algorithm in the tsunami warning process, using both a sufficient dataset of synthetic seismograms and a set of waveforms from past great earthquakes, paying particular attention to the algorithm’s performance during “tsunami earthquakes” and to the assessment of a lower-magnitude bound for its domain of applicability.

Detection of Tsunamis with Sea Level Sensors

A majority of the funds authorized by the Tsunami Warning and Education Act (P.L. 109-424) have been used to manufacture, deploy, and maintain an array of 39 DART stations, establish 16 new coastal tide gauges, and upgrade 33 existing water level stations. These new and upgraded sea level stations have closed significant gaps in the sea level sensor network that had left many U.S. coastal communities subject to uncertain tsunami warnings. The availability of these open-ocean DART stations makes it possible to forecast the height of tsunamis once waves are detected by the buoy and before they arrive onshore.

However, some fundamental issues remain. For example, gaps in coverage exist in the Caribbean region or off the South America coast. Most concerning is the committee’s finding that as much as 30 percent of DART stations are inoperable at any given time. These high

numbers for buoy outages jeopardize the ability of the TWCs to forecast tsunamis. Because the value of individual components in the network and the risk to the warning capability due to individual component failures has not been evaluated, the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) has no guidance for high-priority buoy repairs.

Recommendation: The reliability of the DART network should be improved to allow the TWCs to fully utilize the capability this technology offers.

Recommendation: In order to bring NDBC into compliance with P.L. 109-424, the center should engage in a vigorous effort to improve the reliability of the DART stations and minimize the gaps caused by outages.

Recommendation: NOAA should regularly assess the appropriate spatial coverage of the coastal and DART sea level sensor network (U.S. and international).

Recommendation: NOAA should prioritize the sea level stations (both U.S. and international) according to their value to tsunami detection and forecasting for the areas of responsibility of the TWCs.

Recommendation: NOAA should assess on a regular basis the vulnerabilities to, and quality of, the data streams from all elements of the sea level sensor networks, beginning with the highest priority sites determined per the recommendations above.

Recommendation: NOAA should encourage access to the DART platform by other observational programs, because the platform presents an opportunity to acquire a long time series of oceanographic and meteorological variables.

Recommendation: NOAA should establish a “Tsunami Sea Level Observation Network Coordination and Oversight Committee” to oversee and review the implementation of the recommendations provided above.

Tsunami Forecasting

The expansion of the coastal and open-ocean sea level network has made it possible to forecast tsunamis in near-real time. It provides emergency managers with critical information about the time the first wave might arrive, the duration during which waves will continue to arrive (which can be for many hours), and the size of these waves. Currently, one forecast model is fully operational and one is being used by the TWCs as an additional source of forecast model output. Although these models have been relatively successful in forecasting recent events, a more open and transparent process is needed to evaluate model performance and how the results of the two models can be used to improve the results. For example, the

National Hurricane Center (NHC) runs ensemble models to take advantage of several model outputs to create a single product for the forecast. Tsunami forecasting would benefit from the development of a process that identifies (1) benchmarks to evaluate model performance, (2) how different solutions can be used to create a single forecast, and (3) how field data can be used to validate and improve the models.

Recommendation: Both the TWCs and the NOAA Center for Tsunami Research should continue to work together to advance current forecasting methodologies and bring all available methodologies into full operational use.

Future Research and Technology Development

Currently, given the distance of the source to the closest coastal or open-ocean sea level sensor, it can take up to an hour or more to confirm a tsunami forecast and potentially even longer to forecast the size. This is not only of concern in the case of near-field tsunamis, but also in the event of a tsunami earthquake or underwater landslide, events that generate only a small amount of ground shaking but could trigger a tsunami of much greater amplitude than would be expected. In this circumstance, official warnings may be the only way to notify people. An example comes from the Meiji Sanriku tsunami of 1896 in northeast Japan. The earthquake was large (magnitude 7.2) but generated such weak ground shaking that few people were concerned about the potential for a tsunami. More than 22,000 people perished in the huge tsunami that followed.

To detect a tsunami earthquake or underwater landslide, direct measurements of the water-surface variations and currents are required in real time. This rapidly sampled data could also help issue warnings to communities a little farther away from the source. Infrastructure such as sea level sensor networks and communications equipment could be destroyed by the initial impact of the tsunami wave, leading to a lack of official warnings.

One way to accomplish real-time measurements is to collect data using cabled seafloor observatories. These comprise various sensors connected to each other and to shore by a seafloor communications cable that serves both to deliver power to the sensors and to transmit data from the sensors back to onshore data servers. Several types of instruments are useful for tsunami detection, including bottom pressure sensors, seismometers, current meters, and accelerometers. Observatories currently in operation include the North-East Pacific Time-Series Underwater Networked Experiments (NEPTUNE) Canada, off the coast of British Columbia and the Monterey Accelerated Research System (MARS) in Monterey Bay, California. Another large U.S. observatory, the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), has been funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for deployment across Oregon’s continental shelf, slope, and the Cascadia Subduction Zone, over the Juan de Fuca plate, and on the Juan de Fuca Ridge. The committee concluded that tsunami detection, warning, and preparedness activities for near-and mid-field tsunamis could benefit from the expansion of existing alternative technologies for real-time detection.

Recommendation: To develop more rapid and accurate warnings of local tsunamis, the TWCs should coordinate with the NEPTUNE-Canada and OOI observatory managers to obtain access to their seismic and bottom pressure data in near-real time. Data interpretation tool(s), jointly applied to the seismic and bottom pressure data, should be developed to realize the most rapid tsunami detection possible.

Another promising area of research that could improve the ability to more rapidly predict the magnitude of a tsunami comes from Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements. In combination with seismic data, continuous GPS measurements have proven to be powerful in studying continental earthquakes such as illuminating the processes of earthquake after-slip. Continuous GPS can provide a map of the three-dimensional deformation of the earth’s surface as a result of the earthquake rupture. This information can be used to help predict tsunami generation and provide accurate forecasts of wave heights.

The use of GPS holds great promise for extending the current seismic networks to include capabilities for measuring displacements in the coastal environments for the large earthquakes that can be underestimated using seismic techniques alone. Displacements onshore could potentially be used to infer offshore displacements in times as short as five minutes in an area such as the Cascadia fault zone.

Recommendation: NOAA should explore further the operational integration of GPS data into TWC operations from existing and planned GPS geodetic stations along portions of the coast of the U.S. potentially susceptible to near-field tsunami generation including Alaska, Cascadia, the Caribbean, and Hawaii. Where GPS geodetic coverage is not adequate, NOAA should work with NSF and the states to extend coverage, including the long-term operation and maintenance of the stations.

The report identifies several other areas of research and technology development that have the potential to improve the nation’s ability to detect, forecast, and provide timely and accurate warnings regarding tsunamis. For example, the seismic analysis could be improved using high-frequency P-waves. In addition, satellite altimetry or island seismometers might be used to detect tsunami waves, or GPS satellites could detect tsunami waves in the atmosphere. These research avenues hold promise but are far from becoming operational in the tsunami detection and warning process.

Regular, independent scientific review of the various elements of the tsunami warning system would be valuable in identifying and addressing research needs and in ensuring the effective implementation of new technologies and protocols. Science needs to be brought to bear more systematically across the spectrum of tsunami preparation, education, detection, and warning systems. The establishment of an external science advisory panel consisting of physical and social scientists, and practitioners in emergency management, is one option to provide advice and oversight across the spectrum of tsunami efforts.

IMPROVING TSUNAMI WARNING CENTERS’ RELIABILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY OF OPERATIONS

The TWCs provide services to a wide community that includes emergency managers, the scientific community, and the public. They are responsible for gathering information from sensor and observational systems, detecting tsunamigenic earthquakes, developing decision support information, and providing and disseminating warnings to the public and other entities. Although operational procedures for earthquake detection are similar at both TWCs, the technologies used are considerably different, with different hardware platforms, software suites, processes, and interfaces to the public and their users. The committee concludes that these differences lead to technological incompatibilities and limited capabilities for back up, redundancy, and checks and balances, which are important mission capabilities for the tsunami warning system.

The success of the TWC mission is critically dependent on technical infrastructure and human capital, both of which the committee assessed to be insufficiently supported. Several issues have been identified that are associated with the reliance on dated software technology hampering easy interfacing with current network and mobile data structures. Addressing these problems is difficult for the TWCs, as most scientific personnel and watchstanders have training in the geophysical sciences and not in software engineering.

To harmonize software and hardware suites, NOAA developed an information technology (IT) Convergence Plan, with the goal of creating a single, platform-independent technology architecture to be deployed at each TWC and a shared tsunami portal. The committee believes that the NOAA’s IT Convergence Plan is well-motivated, but it notes that the plan is a single project effort and is not part of a systematic, comprehensive IT system plan and enterprise architecture.

Recommendation: The NOAA/NWS should harmonize and standardize checklists, tsunami warning products, and decision support tools, and it should use standard TWC software tools and applications.

Recommendation: Given the importance of IT and the rapid evolution of IT, the tsunami warning program should undertake a comprehensive, enterprise-wide long-range technology planning effort, consistent with international technology process and product standards, in order to develop both an enterprise-wide technology architecture for TWC operations and the accompanying enterprise-wide technology support processes.

As part of this long-range planning effort NOAA/NWS should:

consider providing the TWCs with stronger IT commitment and leadership, and greater resources for software and hardware personnel, planning, development, operations, maintenance, and continuous process and product improvement.

provide sufficient IT staff to the TWCs so that IT hardware and software design, development, and maintenance are not a collateral duty of a watchstanding scientist, as is the case presently.

adopt national, and where applicable, international, standards, best practices, and lessons learned for all functions, technology, processes, and products.

regularly and systematically apply continuing process and product improvement models for hardware and software planning, development, operations, and maintenance and for organizational processes; and develop a learning organizational culture.

The committee reviewed the pre-written messages delivered by the TWCs and found that many documented principles for effective warning messages have not been applied. The committee concluded that the centers’ warning products would be much more effective if their content and delivery incorporated the latest social science on composing effective warning messages and were compatible with current software, hardware, and social media.

Recommendation: The TWCs should consider alternative warning message composition software and should improve protocols by undertaking an external review by IT specialists in the area of communication technology to identify the latest technology in message composition software and formats to ensure compatibility with current and next generation information and communication technology for message dissemination.

The committee also found inconsistencies between the warning products of the TWCs and those of the NWS. For example, a watch means that an event has an 80 percent chance of becoming a warning in the NWS, but this is not the case with the TWCs whose watches rarely become warnings. Another current inconsistency is how the TWCs and the NWS deal with “all-clears.” The TWCs cancel a bulletin, which could be read by the public as a signal that it is safe to return, which is not the same as an “all-clear” issued by the NWS. The NWS will soon move from using the “alert bulletin system” to an “impact based system,” which will introduce another inconsistency with the TWCs.

Recommendation: Current and future adjustments of TWCs and NWS warning products should be made in a consistent fashion. A mechanism should be put in place so that future changes in warning products are quickly reviewed for inconsistencies, which are then addressed, so that products from the TWCs and the NWS match.

Human Resources

Each TWC relies on a dedicated staff, including nine science duty officers that perform watchstanding duties in addition to research and development. The watchstander has a critical role in tsunami decision support by maintaining situational awareness and issuing correct notification and warning products. Although visualization software assists by monitoring seismic and sea level data and mapping event locations, it is the watchstanders’ training, experience, and expert judgment that are essential in making the appropriate decisions when creating warning products. To enhance the effectiveness of TWC decision making and the TWC staff’s ability to inform decision making processes, regular and varied types of training are needed. In addition, because of the importance of technical and scientific know-how within

the TWCs, opportunities for interactions between TWC staff and external scientific and professional communities are important and need to be encouraged and institutionalized within the tsunami program.

Recommendation: Because of the importance of technical and scientific expertise to the TWC’s function, TWC human capital requirements, recruiting, training, re-training, development, mentoring, and professional exchange should be included, reassessed, and updated as part of the NOAA/NWS enterprise-wide technology planning effort.

Organizational Structure

The goal of having two geographically distributed TWCs in Hawaii and Alaska with distinct areas of responsibility is to provide the system with backup in the case of critical failure at the other center. However, there are significant differences in IT architecture and software suites that thwart this backup function. Also, inconsistencies in warning products issued by the two TWCs have caused confusion. Because clear communication and consistency in message content are two key principles to effective warning message composition, the TWCs’ warning products are less effective in eliciting the appropriate response. Because the TWCs are managed by two different regional NWS offices, use different analytical software and hardware, and appear to have distinct organizational cultures, the committee concludes that they do not function as redundant systems. Significant organizational changes will be needed to allow them to truly function as redundant systems that provide true backup capabilities. The committee considered the following options to address shortcomings of the current structure of the TWCs: harmonizing the two TWCs’ operations, merging the two TWCs into a single center, or co-locating one or more TWCs with other research or forecasting units.

Recommendation: Organizational structures for the two TWCs should be evaluated and fully described as part of an enterprise-wide technology planning effort. Whether there should be a single or multiple TWCs, or whether the TWC operations should be consolidated in a different location, should be addressed during the enterprise-wide long-range planning effort.

Conclusions

The numerous distributed efforts in tsunami detection, warning, and preparedness are linked together to reduce loss of life and economic assets from a tsunami. In the event of a tsunami, all these distributed efforts must come together in less than a day to produce an effective, adaptable response and function like a single organization. A challenge for tsunami warning preparedness efforts is to develop effective organizational structures that provide reliable and sustainable operations in non-tsunami periods as well as during catastrophic incidents, especially given the short time available to respond in a crisis.

The committee found that personnel responsible for these efforts (e.g., at the TWCs and Tsunami Program, state emergency managers, etc.) are highly committed to serving each of the program’s functions, from detection through education and community outreach. However, the committee found many shortcomings of the TWCs in terms of function, technology, human capital, and organizational structures, and many opportunities for significant improvements in center operations. Improvements will depend upon an organizational culture change within the NOAA/NWS Tsunami Program that supports and celebrates operational excellence, adopts national and international standards, processes, best practices, and lessons learned for all functions, technologies, processes, and products, and continuously seeks process improvements.

Recommendation: Tsunami warning system processes and products should reflect industry best practices, as well as lessons learned from other operational real-time, large-scale, mission-critical distributed systems, and should comply with international information technology and software engineering product and process standards.

Recommendation: NOAA/NWS and the TWCs should undertake ongoing, joint or NOAA-wide, continuous process improvement activities for their functional, technological, organizational, and human capital initiatives.

Many coastal areas of the United States are at risk for tsunamis. After the catastrophic 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, legislation was passed to expand U.S. tsunami warning capabilities. Since then, the nation has made progress in several related areas on both the federal and state levels. At the federal level, NOAA has improved the ability to detect and forecast tsunamis by expanding the sensor network. Other federal and state activities to increase tsunami safety include: improvements to tsunami hazard and evacuation maps for many coastal communities; vulnerability assessments of some coastal populations in several states; and new efforts to increase public awareness of the hazard and how to respond.

Tsunami Warning and Preparedness explores the advances made in tsunami detection and preparedness, and identifies the challenges that still remain. The book describes areas of research and development that would improve tsunami education, preparation, and detection, especially with tsunamis that arrive less than an hour after the triggering event. It asserts that seamless coordination between the two Tsunami Warning Centers and clear communications to local officials and the public could create a timely and effective response to coastal communities facing a pending tsuanami.

According to Tsunami Warning and Preparedness , minimizing future losses to the nation from tsunamis requires persistent progress across the broad spectrum of efforts including: risk assessment, public education, government coordination, detection and forecasting, and warning-center operations. The book also suggests designing effective interagency exercises, using professional emergency-management standards to prepare communities, and prioritizing funding based on tsunami risk.

READ FREE ONLINE

Welcome to OpenBook!

You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

Show this book's table of contents , where you can jump to any chapter by name.

...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

Switch between the Original Pages , where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter .

Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

View our suggested citation for this chapter.

Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

Get Email Updates

Do you enjoy reading reports from the Academies online for free ? Sign up for email notifications and we'll let you know about new publications in your areas of interest when they're released.

Earthquake Essay for Students and Children

500+ Words Essay on Earthquake

Simply speaking, Earthquake means the shaking of the Earth’s surface. It is a sudden trembling of the surface of the Earth. Earthquakes certainly are a terrible natural disaster. Furthermore, Earthquakes can cause huge damage to life and property. Some Earthquakes are weak in nature and probably go unnoticed. In contrast, some Earthquakes are major and violent. The major Earthquakes are almost always devastating in nature. Most noteworthy, the occurrence of an Earthquake is quite unpredictable. This is what makes them so dangerous.

Types of Earthquake

Tectonic Earthquake: The Earth’s crust comprises of the slab of rocks of uneven shapes. These slab of rocks are tectonic plates. Furthermore, there is energy stored here. This energy causes tectonic plates to push away from each other or towards each other. As time passes, the energy and movement build up pressure between two plates.

Therefore, this enormous pressure causes the fault line to form. Also, the center point of this disturbance is the focus of the Earthquake. Consequently, waves of energy travel from focus to the surface. This results in shaking of the surface.

Volcanic Earthquake: This Earthquake is related to volcanic activity. Above all, the magnitude of such Earthquakes is weak. These Earthquakes are of two types. The first type is Volcano-tectonic earthquake. Here tremors occur due to injection or withdrawal of Magma. In contrast, the second type is Long-period earthquake. Here Earthquake occurs due to the pressure changes among the Earth’s layers.

Collapse Earthquake: These Earthquakes occur in the caverns and mines. Furthermore, these Earthquakes are of weak magnitude. Undergrounds blasts are probably the cause of collapsing of mines. Above all, this collapsing of mines causes seismic waves. Consequently, these seismic waves cause an Earthquake.

Explosive Earthquake: These Earthquakes almost always occur due to the testing of nuclear weapons. When a nuclear weapon detonates, a big blast occurs. This results in the release of a huge amount of energy. This probably results in Earthquakes.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Effects of Earthquakes

First of all, the shaking of the ground is the most notable effect of the Earthquake. Furthermore, ground rupture also occurs along with shaking. This results in severe damage to infrastructure facilities. The severity of the Earthquake depends upon the magnitude and distance from the epicenter. Also, the local geographical conditions play a role in determining the severity. Ground rupture refers to the visible breaking of the Earth’s surface.

Another significant effect of Earthquake is landslides. Landslides occur due to slope instability. This slope instability happens because of Earthquake.

Earthquakes can cause soil liquefaction. This happens when water-saturated granular material loses its strength. Therefore, it transforms from solid to a liquid. Consequently, rigid structures sink into the liquefied deposits.

Earthquakes can result in fires. This happens because Earthquake damages the electric power and gas lines. Above all, it becomes extremely difficult to stop a fire once it begins.

Earthquakes can also create the infamous Tsunamis. Tsunamis are long-wavelength sea waves. These sea waves are caused by the sudden or abrupt movement of large volumes of water. This is because of an Earthquake in the ocean. Above all, Tsunamis can travel at a speed of 600-800 kilometers per hour. These tsunamis can cause massive destruction when they hit the sea coast.

In conclusion, an Earthquake is a great and terrifying phenomenon of Earth. It shows the frailty of humans against nature. It is a tremendous occurrence that certainly shocks everyone. Above all, Earthquake lasts only for a few seconds but can cause unimaginable damage.

FAQs on Earthquake

Q1 Why does an explosive Earthquake occurs?

A1 An explosive Earthquake occurs due to the testing of nuclear weapons.

Q2 Why do landslides occur because of Earthquake?

A2 Landslides happen due to slope instability. Most noteworthy, this slope instability is caused by an Earthquake.

Customize your course in 30 seconds

Which class are you in.

• Travelling Essay
• Picnic Essay
• Our Country Essay
• My Parents Essay
• Essay on Favourite Personality
• Essay on Memorable Day of My Life
• Essay on Knowledge is Power
• Essay on Gurpurab
• Essay on My Favourite Season
• Essay on Types of Sports

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Download the App

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• How to write a narrative essay | Example & tips

How to Write a Narrative Essay | Example & Tips

Published on July 24, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

A narrative essay tells a story. In most cases, this is a story about a personal experience you had. This type of essay , along with the descriptive essay , allows you to get personal and creative, unlike most academic writing .

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Upload your document to correct all your mistakes in minutes

Table of contents

What is a narrative essay for, choosing a topic, interactive example of a narrative essay, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about narrative essays.

When assigned a narrative essay, you might find yourself wondering: Why does my teacher want to hear this story? Topics for narrative essays can range from the important to the trivial. Usually the point is not so much the story itself, but the way you tell it.

A narrative essay is a way of testing your ability to tell a story in a clear and interesting way. You’re expected to think about where your story begins and ends, and how to convey it with eye-catching language and a satisfying pace.

These skills are quite different from those needed for formal academic writing. For instance, in a narrative essay the use of the first person (“I”) is encouraged, as is the use of figurative language, dialogue, and suspense.

Receive feedback on language, structure, and formatting

Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:

• Academic style
• Vague sentences
• Style consistency

See an example

Narrative essay assignments vary widely in the amount of direction you’re given about your topic. You may be assigned quite a specific topic or choice of topics to work with.

• Write a story about your first day of school.
• Write a story about your favorite holiday destination.

You may also be given prompts that leave you a much wider choice of topic.

• Write about an experience where you learned something about yourself.
• Write about an achievement you are proud of. What did you accomplish, and how?

In these cases, you might have to think harder to decide what story you want to tell. The best kind of story for a narrative essay is one you can use to talk about a particular theme or lesson, or that takes a surprising turn somewhere along the way.

For example, a trip where everything went according to plan makes for a less interesting story than one where something unexpected happened that you then had to respond to. Choose an experience that might surprise the reader or teach them something.

Narrative essays in college applications

When applying for college , you might be asked to write a narrative essay that expresses something about your personal qualities.

For example, this application prompt from Common App requires you to respond with a narrative essay.

In this context, choose a story that is not only interesting but also expresses the qualities the prompt is looking for—here, resilience and the ability to learn from failure—and frame the story in a way that emphasizes these qualities.

An example of a short narrative essay, responding to the prompt “Write about an experience where you learned something about yourself,” is shown below.

Hover over different parts of the text to see how the structure works.

Since elementary school, I have always favored subjects like science and math over the humanities. My instinct was always to think of these subjects as more solid and serious than classes like English. If there was no right answer, I thought, why bother? But recently I had an experience that taught me my academic interests are more flexible than I had thought: I took my first philosophy class.

Before I entered the classroom, I was skeptical. I waited outside with the other students and wondered what exactly philosophy would involve—I really had no idea. I imagined something pretty abstract: long, stilted conversations pondering the meaning of life. But what I got was something quite different.

A young man in jeans, Mr. Jones—“but you can call me Rob”—was far from the white-haired, buttoned-up old man I had half-expected. And rather than pulling us into pedantic arguments about obscure philosophical points, Rob engaged us on our level. To talk free will, we looked at our own choices. To talk ethics, we looked at dilemmas we had faced ourselves. By the end of class, I’d discovered that questions with no right answer can turn out to be the most interesting ones.

The experience has taught me to look at things a little more “philosophically”—and not just because it was a philosophy class! I learned that if I let go of my preconceptions, I can actually get a lot out of subjects I was previously dismissive of. The class taught me—in more ways than one—to look at things with an open mind.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

• Ad hominem fallacy
• Post hoc fallacy
• Appeal to authority fallacy
• False cause fallacy
• Sunk cost fallacy

College essays

• Choosing Essay Topic
• Write a College Essay
• Write a Diversity Essay
• College Essay Format & Structure
• Comparing and Contrasting in an Essay

 (AI) Tools

• Grammar Checker
• Paraphrasing Tool
• Text Summarizer
• AI Detector
• Plagiarism Checker
• Citation Generator

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

If you’re not given much guidance on what your narrative essay should be about, consider the context and scope of the assignment. What kind of story is relevant, interesting, and possible to tell within the word count?

The best kind of story for a narrative essay is one you can use to reflect on a particular theme or lesson, or that takes a surprising turn somewhere along the way.

Don’t worry too much if your topic seems unoriginal. The point of a narrative essay is how you tell the story and the point you make with it, not the subject of the story itself.

Narrative essays are usually assigned as writing exercises at high school or in university composition classes. They may also form part of a university application.

When you are prompted to tell a story about your own life or experiences, a narrative essay is usually the right response.

The key difference is that a narrative essay is designed to tell a complete story, while a descriptive essay is meant to convey an intense description of a particular place, object, or concept.

Narrative and descriptive essays both allow you to write more personally and creatively than other kinds of essays , and similar writing skills can apply to both.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2023, July 23). How to Write a Narrative Essay | Example & Tips. Scribbr. Retrieved April 16, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/narrative-essay/

Is this article helpful?

Jack Caulfield

Other students also liked, how to write an expository essay, how to write a descriptive essay | example & tips, how to write your personal statement | strategies & examples, unlimited academic ai-proofreading.

✔ Document error-free in 5minutes ✔ Unlimited document corrections ✔ Specialized in correcting academic texts